ARAM Call For Proposal_FA8650-25-R-M001.pdf

Call for Proposals

FA8650-25-R-M001

14 Nov 2024

Materials and Manufacturing Directorate (RX)

Multiple Authority Announcement (MAA)

Call For Proposals

Call for Proposals Title: Advanced Robotics & Automation for Manufacturing & Sustainment

(ARAMS)

Call for Proposal Number: FA8650-25-R-M001

Call for Proposals Type: This is a one-step Call for Proposals.

References: This Call for Proposals is being issued under MAA FA2394-24-R-B003. Offerors must refer to FA2394-24-R-B003 and any MAA Amendments, which must be read in conjunction with this Call for Proposals, FA8650-25-R-M001, and any of this Call for Proposal

Amendments.

Solicitation Authority: 32 CFR 22.205 – Grants and Cooperative Agreements

Proposal Due Date and Time: Proposal(s) are due no later than 06 Jan 2025, 4:00 p.m., Wright-

Patterson AFB, OH, local time.

Proposal Submission Method: The Air Force requests electronic proposals be submitted using both DoD SAFE, https://safe.apps.mil/, (primary method) and email (backup method) to the following addresses:

Contracting Officer: Michael T. Corbett, michael.corbett.13@us.af.mil

Program Manager: Harry Pierson, harry.pierson.1@us.af.mil

DoD SAFE Drop-off Request: If the contractor needs a DoD SAFE drop-off invite from the Air

Force, please send that request to michael.corbett.13@us.af.mil no later than 7 days prior to the due date of proposals to ensure a drop off code is provided in a timely manner.

Award Notices: Offerors will be notified whether their proposal is recommended for award on or about 07 Feb 2025. The notification is not to be construed to mean the award of a contract is assured, as availability of funds and successful negotiations are prerequisites to any award.

Type of Contract/Instrument: The Air Force reserves the right to award the instrument best suited to the nature of research proposed. Accordingly, the Government may award any appropriate contract type under the FAR or Other Transaction (OT) for prototype, grant, cooperative agreement, or OT for Research. The Air Force may also consider award of an appropriate technology transfer mechanism, if applicable. It is anticipated that awards under this

Call for Proposal will be awarded as a Cooperative Agreement.

https://safe.apps.mil/ mailto:michael.corbett.13@us.af.mil mailto:harry.pierson.1@us.af.mil mailto:michael.corbett.13@us.af.mil

Estimated Program Cost: $87,700,000.00

Anticipated Number of Awards: The Air Force anticipates awarding One award under this announcement. However, the Air Force reserves the right to award zero, one, or more contracts for all, some or none of the solicited effort based on the offeror’s ability to perform desired work and funding fluctuations.

Brief Program Summary: Advanced robotics and automation technology is critical for the Air

Force's commercial industrial base and organic sustainment enterprise. Such technology can increase production throughput, leading to reduced acquisition times for both systems and critical components and maximizing the availability of Department of the Air Force (DAF) systems. Robotics and automation also reduce costs, increase quality, mitigate critical workforce challenges, and facilitate data collection that enables digital twins for production assets. Significant capability gaps exist, however, in robotics and automation for defense production and sustainment, where the low-volume, high-mix, and highly variable nature of manufacturing renders conventional solutions impractical. It is critical that technical development be accomplished through innovative teaming between academia, technology companies, robotic manufacturers, solution providers, the Air Force’s industrial base, and end users so that at the end of development, commercial entities are immediately prepared to commercialize and supply that technology to the Air Force, its commercial industrial base, and the broader US manufacturing base.

The Air Force’s objective is to establish and maintain a consortium of organizations as described above to perform research, development, testing, and evaluation (RDT&E) to advance the state of the art in dial-use robotics and automation technologies of interest to the DAF. With the consortium established, the consortium manager will work in close collaboration with the Air

Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to assemble best of breed teams to develop, mature, deliver, and commercialize dual-use technical solutions for robotics and automation challenges. The performer will also work with AFRL to define and provide an appropriate level of program management for each effort. The performer will create an infrastructure to securely disseminate technical achievements and share selected IP, as negotiated for each effort, with relevant US-based S&T communities.

Communication Between Prospective Offerors and Government Representatives: Dialogue between prospective offerors and Government representatives (technical and contracting) is encouraged until proposal submission.

All pertinent questions and answers will be posted to SAM.gov under this Call for Proposals as

Questions and Answers (Q&As). Discussions with any of the points of contact shall not

14 Nov 2024 constitute a commitment by the Government to subsequently fund or award any proposed effort.

Only Contracting Officers are legally authorized to commit the Government.

Address technical questions to the Technical POC: the Technical POC is Harry Pierson, AFRL/RXMD, 2941 Hobson Way, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433-7750, harry.pierson.1@us.af.mil, (937) 656-7038. Include the Contracting POC listed below in all email correspondence to the Technical POC.

Address contracting questions to the Contracting POC: the Contracting POC is Michael

Corbett, AFRL/RXKMM, 2130 8th Street, WPAFB, OH 45433, michael.corbett.13@us.af.mil, 937-623-9474

Full Text Announcement

I. Program Description: The Air Force Research Laboratory, Materials and Manufacturing

Directorate, Composite. Ceramic, Metallic, and Materials Performance Division (RXN) is soliciting technical and cost proposals on the following research effort,

1. Statement of Objective/Description of Technical Area(s): Composite, Ceramic, Metallic, and Materials Performance.

2.

i. Statement of Objectives (SOO): See Attachment 1

3. Deliverable Items:

i. Data Items:

Deliverable Item Frequency

Final Report Draft 30 days and Final 90 days after End of Technical

Effort

Technical Status Report Quarterly

Funds and Man-hour Expenditure Report Quarterly

Property Control List Quarterly/as required

Additional deliverables as defined for each

Project/CLIN.

As Required

a) Reference Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Addendum to DoD R&D

General Terms and Conditions and AFRL Award-Specific Terms and

Conditions

b) AFRL American National Standards Institute (ANSI) / National Information

Standards Organization (NISO)-Based Guide to Formatting Technical Reports:

See Attachment 3

c) Report Documentation Page (SF 298): See Attachment 7

ii. Software: To be determined (TBD) on individual projects.

iii. Hardware: TBD on individual projects.

4. Schedule:

Period of Performance (PoP): The period of performance for the technical effort will be eighty-four (84) months technical plus an additional three (3) months for preparation, review, revision, and submittal of the approved final technical report for a total period of performance of eighty-seven (87) months.

5. Other Requirements:

i. Program security classification: Unclassified

ii. Operational Security (OPSEC): See attached SOO for OPSEC guidance.

iii. Science and Technology (S&T) Protection: In accordance with Air Force Research

Laboratory Instruction (AFRLI) 61-113, “Science and Technology (S&T) Protection for the Air Force Research Laboratory”, offerors are required to submit the following as part of their proposal:

a) A completed initial Standard Form (SF) 424, Research and Related Senior/Key

Person Profile (Expanded) Form, for all Senior/Key Personnel proposed in support of the AFRLI 61-113 Personnel Risk Assessment requirement. See

Attachment 04.

b) Documentation of a Security Program Plan in support of the AFRLI 61-113 Initial

Institution S&T Protection Program Review requirement. This must include, at a minimum, a completed Security Program Questionnaire. See Attachment 05.

c) Submittal may also include a pre-existing plan that that the offeror uses as a matter of course or plan developed specifically for this acquisition. The purpose of requesting the plan is to assess the offeror’s capacity for protection of the

Government’s S&T. Failure to demonstrate a plan adequate to meet the needs of

14 Nov 2024 the requirements, as determined by the Government in its sole discretion, may be grounds for considering the proposal un-awardable.

d) A completed Privacy Act Statement consent form for each Covered Individual that is also signed by the Aplicants/Recipents as the Individual’s Sponser

iv. Government Procedures: The Government will review the submitted S&T protection documentation only for those proposals categorized as Selectable and selected for funding and negotiations.

a) S&T Protection Initial Risk Review:

1. Personnel Risk Assessment: The Government will review non-government research key/senior performers identified by the offeror on the initial SF 424 for workload conflicts and conflicts of interest.

2. Initial Institution S&T Protection Program Review: The Government will review the offeror’s security program information submitted in accordance with paragraph b. of this section (above) to identify any potential risks and ensure appropriate measures are in place to protect S&T information.

b) The Government may require the offeror to submit additional information and/or a mitigation plan for any identified S&T protection risks. If the

Government determines the offeror failed to provide adequate additional information; or an acceptable mitigation plan; or it is determined the offeror’s

S&T protection approach is high risk and does not provide adequate protection of S&T information, the Government may reject the proposal and withdraw it from consideration for award.

c) S&T Protection Annual Risk Review: IAW the AFRL Addendum to DoD R&D

General Terms and Conditions and AFRL Award-Specific Terms and

Conditions, Article 29, Science and Technology (S&T) Protection (Feb 2024), the contractor/recipient shall provide an SF 424 with the following information:

1) an initial report of all Senior/Key Personnel at the time of award; 2) an annual report of all Senior/Key Personnel providing support; and 3) a report for any new Senior/Key Personnel who join the contract, agreement, grant, or OT.

Any updated SF 424s for new Senior/Key Personnel supporting the award require coordination from the Government prior to the contractor/recipient employee receiving access to S&T information. The purpose of this report is oversight and should not be construed as relieving the contractor/recipient of any S&T Protection requirements within the contract, grant, agreement, or OT.

v. Export Control: Export controls do not apply to the core activities of the

Consortium as envisioned. Individual projects added to this agreement may have export controls that will be described within the requirements documentation. If it is

14 Nov 2024 determined that that a particular project involves export contractor data than it will be subject to export control laws and regulations. Only contractors who are registered and certified with the Defense Logistics Agency and have a legitimate business purpose may participate in this solicitation. Contact the U.S./Canada Joint

Certification Program Office, Defense Logistics Agency, Logistics Information

Services J34, HDI Federal Center, 74 Washington Avenue N., Battle Creek, Michigan 49037-3084, (1-800-352-3572) or the Joint Certification Program Office

(JCO) at JCP-Helpdesk@dla.mil for further information on the certification process.

You must submit a copy of your approved DD Form 2345, Military Critical

Technical Data Agreement, with your proposal.

vi. There are no limits on the number of proposals an offeror may submit.

6. Other Information:

i. Government Furnished Property (GFP) availability: GFP is not anticipated to be made available under any resulting contract.

ii. Data Rights Desired:

a) Other Than Commercial Technical Data: Government Purpose Rights

b) Other Than Commercial Computer Software: Government Purpose Rights

c) Other Than Commercial Software Documentation: Government Purpose Rights

d) Commercial Computer Software Rights: Customary Commercial License consistent with Federal statutes and regulations

See RX MAA Industry Guide, Chapter 3 for additional details. Potential Offerors are advised that Attachment 06 Model Contract – T&C’S, to include the Assertions

List, will be required to be returned with the full proposal. Assertions must be completed with specificity.

II. Award Information:

1. Anticipated Award Date: April 2025

2. Anticipated Funding:

This funding profile is an estimate only and not a contractual obligation for funding. All funding is subject to change due to Government discretion and availability. Potential offerors should be aware that due to unanticipated budget fluctuations funding in any or all areas may change with little or no notice. Please refer to SOO, Attachment 1, para. 4.3 and 5.1., for consortium management funding details.

Projected Consortium Projects FY25 FY26 FY27 FY28 FY29 Total

Project 1 (Gov Funds) $4,650,000 $0 $0 $0 $0 $4,650,000

Project 1 (Est Recipient Match) $0 $0 $0 $0 $0 $0

Project 2 (Gov Funds) $500,000 $1,500,000 $1,500,000 $1,500,000 $1,500,000 $6,500,000

Project 2 (Est Recipient Match) $50,000 $300,000 $300,000 $300,000 $300,000 $1,250,000

Other Future Projects (Gov Funds) $8,000,000 $9,500,000 $15,500,000 $16,500,000 $16,000,000 $65,500,000

Other Future Projects (Est Recipient Match) $1,000,000 $1,300,000 $2,350,000 $2,600,000 $2,550,000 $9,800,000

Total Federal plus Cost Share Funds

$14,200,000 $12,600,000 $19,650,000 $20,900,000 $20,350,000 $87,700,000

3. Cost Sharing or Matching: Cost share shall be required on individual projects/CLINs. The minimum cost share requirements per project are as follows:

i. 10% for government-initiated projects

ii. 25% for consortium-initiated projects

iii. The government program manager may increase cost share requirement for specific efforts based on technical risk. The government program manager may also waive the cost share requirement on specific government-initiated projects if it is in the government’s best interest (e.g., congressionally directed funding).

4. Eligible Offeror:

i. Federally Funded Research and Development Centers: The following guidance is provided for Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs) contemplating submitting a proposal in response to a Solicitation, as either a prime or subcontractor. FAR 35.017-1(c)(4) prohibits an FFRDC from competing with any non-

FFRDC concern in response to a federal agency request for proposal for other than the operation of an FFRDC (with exceptions stated in DFARS 235.017-1(c)(4)). There is no regulation prohibiting an FFRDC from responding to a Solicitation issued under this

MAA. However, the FFRDC’s sponsoring agency must first make a determination that the effort being proposed falls within the purpose, mission, general scope of effort, or special competency of the FFRDC, and that determination must be included in the

FFRDC’s proposal. In addition, AFRL must make a determination that the work proposed would not place the FFRDC in direct competition with domestic private industry. Only after these determinations are made, would a determination be made concerning the FFRDC’s eligibility to receive an award.

ii.

iii. Government Agencies: If a government agency is interested in performing work, contact the Program Manager identified in this Call for Proposal. If those discussions result in a mutual interest to pursue your agency's participation, the effort will be pursued independent of this announcement.

5. Other:

i. Foreign Involvement:

a. Participation at the prime contractor level is prohibited.

b. Foreign Nationals (FNs) can be employed by the US Prime Contractor or Sub-

Contractor; however, FNs will be limited to Public Domain information unless the contractor has obtained the proper License or Technical Assistance

Agreement that authorizes disclosure of CMI and/or CUI to foreign entities pursuant to the Department of State’s ITAR or Department of Commerce’s EAR.

c. Public Domain information is defined as information that is releasable to the general public and sometimes referred to as open source material. Examples include but are not limited to newspapers, magazines and information posted on the internet.

d. U.S. incorporated companies that are wholly owned subsidiaries of foreign companies may become eligible to be members of the consortium, or sub-awardees of Federal support if they are able to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the AF that:

1. Their participation is in the best interest of the consortium, U.S. Industry, and U.S. economic development

2. Adequate IP and data protections exist between the U.S. subsidiary and its foreign parent organization.

3. The work is conducted in the U.S.

4.Other conditions that may be deemed necessary by the consortium and the U.S. Government to protect U.S. interests are met

III. Proposal and Call for Proposal Information:

1. Overview: Proposals submitted shall be in accordance with this Call for Proposals.

There will be no other solicitation issued regarding this requirement. The Government intends to review proposals and award some, all, or none of the proposals received without negotiation/discussion; however, the Government reserves the right to negotiate with those offeror(s) whose proposal is selected for funding.

i. Call for Proposal Amendments: Offerors should be alert for any Call for Proposal

Amendments that may change proposal requirements or permit extensions to the proposal submission date.

ii. Potential offerors are reminded that in the event of conflicting information between the RX MAA Industry Guide and this Call for Proposals, offerors should use the following order of precedence: (1) Call for Proposal; (2) RX MAA; (3) Industry

Guide.

iii. For additional information, a copy of the RX MAA Industry Guide is located at:

https://sam.gov/opp/b95ddb585e624e549952112dd61408dd/view

IV. Content and Form of Proposal Submission: The paragraphs below identify proposal format and content.

1. General Instructions:

i. Offerors should consider proposal instructions contained in the RX MAA Industry

Guide, which can be accessed online at:

This guide is specifically designed to assist the offeror in understanding the RX

MAA proposal process.

a) Technical/management and cost/business volumes should be submitted in separate volumes and must be valid for 180 days.

b) Proposals must reference the Call for Proposal number FA8650-25-R-M001and relevant research areas.

c) The cost file(s) spreadsheets must be in Microsoft Excel and include the formulas for calculating cost element bases (i.e., G&A, O/H, etc.)

d) Offerors are advised that only Grants Officers are legally authorized to contractually bind or otherwise commit the Government.

e) The cost of preparing proposals in response to this Call for Proposals is not considered an allowable direct charge to any resulting or any other contract;

however, it may be an allowable expense to the normal bid and proposal indirect cost as specified in FAR 31.205-18.

ii. Technical/Management Proposal:

a) Page Limitations:

1 The Technical/Management Proposal shall be limited to 25 pages for the Basic proposal and the Technical/Management Proposal shall be limited to 25 pages each for future solicitations and project orders after consortium award, with the pages, prepared and submitted in Microsoft Word format.

2.The proposal page limit does not include resumes, tables, and/or charts.

3.The page limitation covers all information including indices, photographs, foldouts (counted as 1 page for each 8.5 by 11 portion), appendices, attachments, etc.

b) Formatting:

1. Font shall be standard 10-point business font Arial.

2. Character spacing must be “normal,” not condensed in any manner.

3. Pages shall be double-spaced (must use standard double-space function in

Microsoft Word), 8.5 by 11 inches, with at least one-inch margins on both sides, top and bottom.

4. All text, including text in tables and charts, must adhere to all font size and line spacing requirements listed herein. Font and line spacing requirements do not have to be followed for illustrations, tables and charts, flowcharts, drawings, diagrams, cover page, table of contents, and restrictive/proprietary markings (in header or footer). These exceptions shall not be used to circumvent formatting requirements and page count limitations by including lengthy narratives in such items.

5. Pages shall be numbered starting with the cover page being Page 1, and the last page being no greater than Page 25.

Please Note: The Government will check the Technical/Management

Proposal for conformance to the stated requirements. Any pages in excess of the stated page limitation after the format check will not be considered for review purposes.

c) Contents: The Technical/Management proposal(s) shall include a discussion of the nature and scope of the research and the technical approach. Additional information on prior work in this area, descriptions of available equipment, use of base support (if desired), data and facilities and resumes of personnel who will be participating in this effort should also be included as attachments to the technical proposal.

d) Any questions concerning the technical proposal preparation shall be referred to the Contracting POC.

iii. SOW:

a) The proposal page limit does not include the offeror’s proposed

Statement of Work (SOW); however, the same formatting rules apply to the SOW, which has no page limit

14 Nov 2024

b) The SOW shall detail the technical tasks proposed to be accomplished under the proposed effort and suitable for contract incorporation.

c) Do not include any proprietary information in the SOW. Refer to the RX

MAA Industry Guide referenced above to assist in SOW preparation.

d) The SOW Supplemental Requirements are included in Attachment 2 to this Call for Proposals.

e) Any questions concerning the SOW preparation shall be referred to the

Contracting POC.

iv. Cost/Business Proposal:

a) Separate the Cost/Business Proposal into a Business Section and Cost Section.

b) Cost/Business proposals have no page limitations.

c) Adequate price competition is anticipated. If it is later determined APC does not exist, and the threshold for a negotiated contract is equal to or expected to exceed $2,000,000, submission of certified cost or pricing data may be required.

d) See Attachment 06 for the Model Agreement. Note that the document awarded may include contract line items (CLINs)/clauses/articles in addition to those in the model, and/or some of the CLIN/clauses/articles in the model may be deleted, depending on the specific circumstances of the individual award. Any additions or deletions will be negotiated with the offeror prior to award.

e) Business Section Contents:

1. The business section should contain all business aspects to the proposed contract, such as type of contract, any exceptions to terms and conditions of the announcement including the model contract, any information not technically related, etc. Provide rationale for exceptions.

2. Identify any technical data that will be delivered with less than unlimited rights.

3. Identify any Government Furnished Property (GFP) if necessary.

v. Cost Section Contents/Cost Element Breakdown: Reference MAA Industry Guide

IV. Funding Restrictions: Not Applicable.

14 Nov 2024

V. Proposal Review Information:

1. Peer or Scientific Review Criteria: Proposals will be reviewed using the criteria listed below.

A) The technical aspect, which is ranked as the first order of priority, shall be reviewed based on the following criteria that are of descending order of importance.

(1) The merits and makeup of the proposed consortium with respect to the SOO.

(2) The approach and ability to efficiently and effectively perform the responsibilities and requirements outlined above.

(3) The soundness of the plans addressing the sample problems below:

To improve Department of Air Force understanding of how proposed consortium management approaches will work in practice, the Air Force requests that offerors explain their proposed solutions to the following technology challenges. For the following example R&D concepts, offerors should indicate how the consortium would (a) broadcast the requirement, (b) facilitate teaming arrangements within the consortium membership, (c) manage the request for proposal process, (d) manage the evaluation and award process, (e) manage an awarded project as part of a portfolio of efforts, and (f) curate and disseminate results. These examples should provide anticipated timelines, rough estimate of consortium resources

(time, funds, etc.), and details about the business processes used to achieve the technical solution.

a) Dynamic multi-robot teaming. The Air Force is interested in developing technology for advanced multi-robot teaming for mobile manipulators. The objective is to reduce cycle times for automated production processes on fighter-size aircraft and their component structures. The vision is a reusable, modular software toolkit for dynamic multi-robot path planning and real-time task reallocation that can be applied a set of discrete production tasks for teams of homogeneous or heterogeneous robots.

b) Collaborative Robotic Process Planning for Complex

Geometries. The Air Force is interested in agile task planning for topology-driven tasks such as spray coating on complex structures and components. In this context, ‘complex’ refers to workpieces that have concavities and/or discontinuities (e.g., edges, holes, overhangs, etc.). The Air Force is also interested moving beyond robotic path and motion planning, to robotic process planning focusing on the result of the robotic process vis-a-vis the manufacturing process objective. For example, a toolpath that yields excellent results for electrostatic powder coating, where overspray is merely inconvenient, may yield terrible results if applied to painting, where overspray can ruin a coating. The Air

14 Nov 2024

Force also anticipates that the complexity of this challenge will require a human-collaborative approach to process planning. The goal is to develop robotic systems that combine autonomous toolpath generation for complex geometries, manufacturing process simulation, and immersive user interaction to enable collaborative robotic process planning that is sufficiently agile for

DAF depots. The vision is a system that automatically plans the process, presents the plan and simulation results, and provides an intuitive interface for a human operator to evaluate and modify the process plan.

2. Cost/Price:

A) : The cost/price criterion includes the realism and reasonableness of the proposed costs to establish and maintain the consortium, as well as the proposed costs to manage projects under the agreement.

3. Review and Selection Process: Reference MAA Industry Guide

VI. Award Administration Information:

1. Award Notices: Offerors will be notified whether their proposal is recommended for award on or about 07 Feb 2025 The notification is not to be construed to mean that any contract award is assured, as availability of funds and successful negotiations are prerequisites to any award.

2. Administrative and National Policy Requirements: All consortium activity and projects will comply with all elements of ITAR regulations

3. Reporting: Reporting will be as directed by the Deliverable Items. See Section I, Item 2, i, of this Call for Proposals.

VII. Other Information:

1. Proposal Reminders: You may be ineligible for award if all requirements of this Call for

Proposals are not met on the proposal due date.

A) Proposals are due to the Grants/Agreements Officer POC.

B) Proposals are due no later than the due date and time specified in this announcement.

C) Proposal page limits are strictly enforced.

14 Nov 2024

D) The Cost/Business Proposal must contain all information described in the

Content and Form of Proposal Submission Section.

E) Proposals must be submitted in the format specified.

F) Offerors who have Forward Pricing Rate Agreements (FPRAs) submit them with their proposal.

LIST OF ATTACHMENTS:

1) Statement of Objectives

2) SOW Supplemental Requirements

3) AFRL American National Standards Institute (ANSI) / National Information Standards

Organization (NISO)-Based Guide to Formatting Technical Reports

4) Research and Related Senior/Key Person Profile (Expanded) Form, SF424

5) Security Program Questionnaire

6) Model Agreement (T&C’s)

7) SF 298